Machine for storing and selectively dispensing articles



' Oct. 5, 1926'. 1,602,188

w. c CUTLER MACHINE FOR STORING AND SELE TIVELY DISPENSING ARTICLES Fiied Sept 16/1925 I I "E wIL'LrA ic. 'cU'rLEB, or GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, nss'renoa T0 'isnnnnnn M. cirrnnn,

or GLENDALE, cA IronnIn.

M cHrivn non sronrne Ann snLnc'rIv nY nrsrnnsrne aa'rrctns.

Application filed September "The present invention relates to selective. vending" machines and has for its principalobject the provision of a comparatively simple and compact machine adapted to contain and vend a plurality of articles, any one of which may be obtained by a customer.

The invention is applicable toany machine,'eithe r manual or'coin controlled, in which it is, desired to storev a plurality of individual articles so that any selected one of the articles may be had byproper operation of the'macl1i-11e,fand it is another object of my invention to provide for properly housing and protectingeacharticle while it is in the said machine. v

' Another object of the invention is to 'im-. prove upon the machine set forth in my copending application, Serial No. 4827a, by doing away with the deliverychute, :so as to reduce the amount of space occupied thereby.

' Anotherobj ect' of the 'inventionis to .provide for easy-replenishing ofthe machine.

1 Still another object of'the in-vention' is :to provide a selective vending machine em bodying a plurality of individual article holders, in which machine any article holder may be refilled without disturbing other article holders.

A further-objectof the invention is to provide a selective vending machineembodying a plurality of article holders and a single operating means-for all the'holders, in which machine an article may be obtained without moving or disturbingany of the otherartion a lin e 55 of Figure 2.

cle holders and without moving-the contents of such other holders.

Other objects and advantages of my =in vention willappear hereinafter and will'be better understood because of the order in] which they occur.

I have illustrated my invention by the ac-' companying drawings in which Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of one embodiment of 'my invention. Figure 2 is a view in section thereof on alarger scale, seen on a line 2,2 of Figure 1. Figure 3fis aqview in section seen on a line 33 of FigureQ. Figure l is aplan view of the left hand end of "the machine; and

Figure '5 is a view in section, on the same scaleas Figures land 4:,S2L1Cl view being seen iMore specifically, in carr-ying-outmy in- 16,1925. "seriaina-5e70a vention, I provide a casing 8 embodying front wall 9, a bottom wall 10, and an armate wall 11 connecting-the bottom wall and top wall, directly or otherwise, to enclosev parts about'to be described. Within-thei terior ofthe casing "I provide a plurality of revoluble or oscillatable article holders such as 12, all arranged in juxtaposition :in a

horizontal series. The machine shoWnis of the'horizontal type but, obviously, itmay be vertical, in Which-case the holders Would be.

arranged one above the other-incoaXial are.

rangement. Any suitable mounting the holders-may be provided," but means for oscillata'bly in the present embodiment I :provide for eaehholder a U-shapejyoke 114. Each-hold er includes spaced side walls 15 and-each contiguous part of thesupporting yoke is provided with a'pivot pin :16 whereby-each wall -is pivoted ltO the corresponding yoke.

It will be apparent now that'an-articlehold er so supported within thev'ca'sing may be moved from the position ain which it is shown .in Figure 2. to;the dottedline %position independently of all other article hold? er's. An *inner wall: 17 of each holder de fines a rectangularspace 18 adapted tofcontain an article, package, or-the like,-'su'ch as aybox 19in which may be contained asandw ich or any other article.

Each article holder includes a circumferential wall :18 co-axiallvdescribed around its center of rotation and the center of the rectangular space is preferably the same as the said center of oscillation. The coaxial wall is cut away as at 20; or, insother words, the article holdingspace opens circum'ferentially' of theholder for 'the removal or insertion of'the article to be vended. The

yokes which support the articleholders are a each shown as secured tothe front wall of the-casing, [which wall may be a separate member to facilitate assembly, repair, or inspecti'on' of'the machine.

The arcuate wall ofthe casing is described coa'Xi'allyof-the center of oscillation of the article holders and SaidWalli-s provided with an elongated rear opening 21 with which'the'opening of any article holder will register when the-holder is moved to the l/ hile it is not essendotted line position. A tal, it is, however, helpful to provide each holder with af'small coil spring22 arranged to tendto move the' contained article outwardly. j Said spring accordingly causes a contained package or box to bear slightly on the inner surface of the arcuate wall. The arcuate wall, or an upper portion at least, is hinged to the front wall as at 24 so that it may be raised to permit access to all article holders. The holders may be replenished by so doing, but it will appear hereinafter that a holder may be replenished independently of the others without opening up the casing inany Way.

For each holder there is provided a circumfer-entially disposed long coil spring or other elastic member 26, for the purpose of urging the holder from the position in which it is shown in Figure 2 to the dotted line position. Accordingly, said spring is attached at one of its ends to the holder at 27, the other end being secured to the casing as at.-28. holder is provided with a stop or pin 80 adapted to abut a latch 31. With the stop in abutment with the latch as shown the holder cannot be moved. The exposed part 82 of the circumferential wall, where it is accessible through the opening, is devoid of any means whereby it can be manually or otherwise moved, and if any unauthorized means were devised for moving it in either direction the stop would prevent it from being moved to bring the open part of the holder into registration with the opening in the casing. Thus, while a portion of each article holder is actually exposed through the opening in the casing, the contents of that holder are inaccessible except by proper operation of the machine. There is pro vided a latch 33 for each holder, all being strung on a single transverse shaft 33 which may serve as a tie rod for the machine. The latches each include a projecting arm 34. By moving the outer end of an arm upwardly, the latch will be moved away from the stop on the corresponding holder and the said holder will be moved by its spring until its stop strikes the stop 35, carried by the easing wall.

A latch releasing member 36 is provided which is slidable along a transverse shaft 37 into registration with any selected latch.

' Said member islooselyengaged by the bifurfit? cated end 38 of a rod 39 which is slid able along a shaft 40. Said rod extends through a slot 41 in the front of the casing and terminates in a handle 42. The front wall of the casing is provided with sight openings 43 through which a portion of the circumferential wall of each holder may be seen and each holder may be provided with a sight opening 44 whereby a portion of the contents of such holder is visible externally of the machine.

The shaft on which the'latch releases is slidably mounted is provided with a slot 45 in which rides a pin 46 carried by the latch The circumferential wall of the release. Thus the release may be moved slidably along the rock shaft, but when said shaft is rocked said release will rock with it. The release has an abutment surface 47 arranged to strike a registered latch and so move it to release the corresponding holder. It will be understood that the rock shaft is driven or rocked by a handle 48 which is mounted externally of the casing.

the handle is directly connected to the rock shaft. If the machine is to be coin controlled, then suitable coin controlled means (not shown) may be provided at the point indicated by 49 to render the handle nor-- mally inoperative to move the latch release until the requisite coin has been fed to the machine as through a coin slot such as 46.

When the machine is empty, all holders will be so disposed that their circumferential openings are registered with the rear casing opening. Each holder is filled by inserting the article and by rocking said holder to bring the pin in looking abutment with the latch. Another way to fill the machine is to raise the hinged arcuate top wall, move If the machine 1s to be used for manual operation,

adjacent end ofthe latch. With the latch now moved away from the pin the article holder will be turned one-quarter revolution by the elastic member. Thus the circumferential opening of the article holder is brought into registration with the rear casing opening. Centrifugal force alone may act to move the article slightly forward through the opening, or the package may be readily reached by having thumb holes (not shown) in the spaced side walls of the holder. In this embodiment, however, the spring behind the article will eject it slightly so that it protrudes sufficiently to be reached at the rear of the casing.

It will be apparent now that I have pro vided a simple selective vending or dispensing machine inwhi'ch all articles are housed against removal except by properor authorized operation of the machine, and it will also be apparent that the machine may be devoid of discharge chutes, baffles and the like such as are ordinarily required to keep the articles out of reach, and, hile I have shown anddescribed a specific embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself to any specific construction or arrangement of parts and may alter same as I desire or as occasion requires without enlarging the scope of my invention, within the appended claims. I

Having described my invention, what claim as new and patentable is 1. In a selective vending machine, an article holder embodying a hollow cylindrical member provided with a circumferential wall, a portion of said wall being cut away to provide an outwardly opening article holding pocket in said holder, a casing embodying walls enclosing said holder, one of the walls being provided with an opening having upper and lower margins respectively, disposed in close proximity to the circumferential wall; said holder supported revolubly in said casing co-axially of its circumferential wall and being movable on such axis to dispose the cut-away portion of the circumferential wall of the holder out of registration with the opening; whereby the article holding pocket is inaccessible from points exterior to the casing when the pocket is so disposed; said holder further movable on its axis to dispose the cut-away portion of the wall in registration with the pocket; said margins of the opening, and said circumferential wall coacting when the holder is in the first mentioned position, to render the pocket inaccessible.

2. In a machine of the class described, a casing provided with an opening, a plu rality of article holders in said casing, each provided with an opening through which its contents may be moved, each holder being sovable independently of the others to bring its opening into registration with the opening in the casing, a spring for each holder normally tending to move the cor responding holder so that its opening is in registration with the opening in the casing, latch for each holder adapted to hold such holder against movement by said sprin each latch movable to release the correspond ing article holder, a rock shaft paralleling the latches, and a latch raising member mounted on said rock shaft so as to be slidable thereon while turning therewith.

3. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of revolubly mounted article holders arranged in a series, each holder having an opening through which its contents may be moved, a casing having an opening coextensive of .the' series of holders; each holder movable on its axis independently of the other to bring the opening of the moved holder into such position as to be in registration with the opening in the casing same in such position that its opening is inaccessible through the casing opening, means for each holder urging same to position where its opening is registered with the casing opening, and means operable externally of the casing-for selectively releasing the locking means.

4. In a machine of the class plurality of disc-like article holders each osdescribed, at

cillatable on its transverse axis, and each holcer provided with a circumferentially opening pocket, intersecting a portion of the circumference, the holders all arranged with their axes in line, a casing enclosing said holders to render the said portion of the circumference of each holder inaccessible when the holders are each in certain posi tion, means for holding said holders in such position; said casing provided with an opening coextensive of the article holders, and means operable externally of the casing to move any selected one of the holders on its axis so that said portion of its circumference is aligned with the opening in the casing. I

5. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of disc-like article holders each oscillatable on its transverse-axis, and each holder provided with a circumferentially opening pocket, intersecting a portion of the circumference, the holders all arranged with their axes in line, a casing enclosing said holders to render the said portion of the circumference of each holder inacces sible when the holders are each in certain position, means for holding said holders in such position; said casing provided with an opening coextensive ofthe article holders, and means operable externally of the casing to move any selected one of the holders on its axis so that. said portion of its circumference is alignedwith the opening in the casing, and a spring in each holder tending to urge the contents outwardly, a portion of the casing being arcuately disposed tohold the contents of the holders against the urge of the sprin In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

" WILLIAM C. CUTLER. 

